June 19, 2010 9:38 pm
CNBC (Reuters), “Hugo Chavez Spearheads Raids as Food Prices Skyrocket”
Mountains of rotting food found at a government warehouse, soaring prices and soldiers raiding wholesalers accused of hoarding: Food supply is the latest battle in President Hugo Chavez’s socialist revolution.
Venezuelan army soldiers swept through the working class, pro-Chavez neighborhood of Catia in Caracas last week, seizing 120 tons of rice along with coffee and powdered milk that officials said was to be sold above regulated prices.
“The battle for food is a matter of national security,” said a red-shirted official from the Food Ministry, resting his arm on a pallet laden with bags of coffee.
It is also the latest issue to divide the Latin American country where Chavez has nationalized a wide swathe of the economy, he says to reverse years of exploitation of the poor.
CNBC (Reuters) article continues here.
May 17, 2010 10:38 am
BusinessWeek, “Venezuela’s Chavez orders takeover of iron-makers”
President Hugo Chavez announced Saturday the expropriation of a group of iron, aluminum and transportation companies in Venezuela’s mining region.
Among the expropriated companies is Materiales Siderurgicos, or Matesi, which is the Venezuelan subsidiary of Luxembourg-based steel maker Tenaris SA.
Venezuela’s socialist president said in a televised that his government was going to take over Matesi because “we couldn’t reach an amicable and reasonable settlement with the owners.
BusinessWeek article continues here.
May 8, 2010 10:08 pm
My Way News (AP), “Venezuela annual inflation rate hits 30 percent”
Venezuela’s annual inflation rate has surpassed 30 percent after consumer prices surged in April.
The Central Bank and National Statistics Institute on Friday reported a 5.2 percent increase in consumer prices during April, driving up the annual rate to 30.4 percent.
President Hugo Chavez’s government has been struggling against the highest inflation rate in Latin America and a weakening economy in general.
My Way News (AP) article continues here.
April 4, 2010 6:43 pm

What about all the jobs and products companies create, aren’t those goods for the public?
Rush Limbaugh, ““No Company is Going to Make Investments for a Public Good””
OBAMA: I don’t want government any more than is necessary, but there’s some things that Bob or any CEO can’t invest in. Bob’s not going to build the roads to get to Celgard. No company is going to make investments for a public good.
RUSH: No company is going to make investments for a public good. Good Lord. I don’t think I even know what vitriol is until I heard that. No company is going to make investments for the public good? What the hell do they do? Bob’s not going to make investments for the public good. Bob here, the CEO at Celgard, Bob’s not going to build the roads to get to Celgard. I’ll bet Bob had to build a whole bunch of roads or parking lots, and I’ll bet Bob had to go through a whole bunch of permit processes with the local government there to get permission to do every bit of building he had to do. Does the government build every road to every business? Obama’s slipping up here, folks. He’s getting off message here. The Democrats are getting off message. Yesterday we had all those sound bites of the Democrats from Baucus to Howard Dean to any number of Democrats saying that the health bill was really about redistribution, was really about the maldistribution of income and the health care bill. That’s off message. That brings back Joe the Plumber. They don’t want that. I mean their message is health insurance for all Americans, medical coverage for all Americans, no, no, no, it’s not about that. It’s about redistributing wealth, which we’ve all known on this side of the aisle. Play this again. I don’t want government any more than is necessary. That’s a lie. He wants government to be doing everything.
Rush Limbaugh article continues here.
March 25, 2010 2:27 pm
The Washington Post, “Cuban leader applauds US health-care reform bill”
by Paul Haven
It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.
Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform “a miracle” and a major victory for Obama’s presidency, but couldn’t help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.
“We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama’s) government,” Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president’s hand against lobbyists and “mercenaries.”
The Washington Post article continues here.